The Magic, The Memories, and Merch! April 2014 Photo Report of the Disney Outlet Store

Ok, who is ready for our monthly trip to the Disney Outlet Store?! This week we’ll be going casual by wearing our Marvel Comics lounge pants and Jack Skellington fedora, and for good luck we’re bringing along our Constantine plush (which actually looks more like Kermit-as-Emperor Palpatine). Now that we are geared up, it’s time to hit the outlets! (Please remember to click on any picture to see it in full size.)

I’ve actually been looking forward to this trip for awhile, as we had heard through the grapevine that certain items were heading to the discount racks – items that could be considered the discounted merchandise equivalent of finding an Elsa doll at Sir Mickey’s! Upon walking through the doors, I immediately found the rumors and whispers to be true…

MagicBand shirts have arrived!

When these shirts first arrived on property around August or September of last year, I couldn’t believe my eyes. And since the time of their debut I have been many times to the parks, stayed at Art of Animation on several occasions, and have made multiple trips to Downtown Disney, never once single a single person wearing one. For a while I thought Disney might be sending the unsold shirts to third world countries joining the merchandise made for sports teams that lose championship games. However, now they are at the outlets and are priced between $12.99 – $17.99.

Will we soon see any of the MagicBand accessories such as MagicBandits or CoverBands?

Since we started on shirts, let’s stay on clothing items. A whole bunch of Epcot 30th shirts arrived. These were actually pretty sweet. These were $9.95 marked down from $24.95, and there is an Epcot 30 logo on the sleeves.

This UK shirt wasn’t part of the Epcot 30 line (now $14.99).

“Prepare to meet…Mr. Angry Eyes!” – Toy Story ($9.99)I give this one a thumbs up. ($9.99)Perfectly acceptable. ($9.99)I really like this one, a lot. ($15.99)

Two other shirts I really thought were sharp were this Oswald the Lucky Rabbit billiards shirt and Goofy’s bowling shirt. The quality on these was extremely high. Each was originally $54.95 and marked down to $24.99 each. I bought the Oswald one.

backClose up of the logo on the front.Goofy’s “Splits Happen” bowling shirtBack of shirtI am now regretting not buying this shirt as well.

My First Mickey t-shirt ($5.99)

A couple shirts from New Fantasyland have arrived, including this one for Enchanted Tales with Belle.

Enchanted Tales with Belle (originally $27.95 now $10.99)

Also from that area of New Fantasyland is this Gaston shirt. I’m assuming these came from that gift shop right next to Gaston’s Tavern. I will keep my eyes open for when that painting of Phil Holmes shows up.

“Here in town there’s only she, who is as beautiful as me, so I’m making plans to woo Belle with this shirt.” ($9.99)

We’re about to head into the Forbidden Zone, so I need to get my spirits up. Here is a very cool looking Pascal plush for $9.99.

Okay, now it’s time to bite down on the stick and head into the Vinylmation area. I was actually impressed this week, as there is a Vinylmation product that is even stranger than regular Vinylmation. Please welcome POPCORN VINYLMATION to the outlet!

Goofy and DonaldDumbo and Jack SkellingtonKermit and Stitch

I never thought I’d long for the days of regular Vinylmation. Oops, looks like I spoke too soon.

Who are these guys? There is zero identification anywhere on the box.

EDIT: Faithful MMM readers have pointed out to me that this box was The Stabbington Brothers from Tangled. Definitely correct. Are they that well known to not have any identification on the packaging? I understand Ursula, Capt Hook or Jafar, but are the Stabbington Brothers that iconic and recognizable? In a related note, HEY YOU KIDS! GET OFF MY LAWN!

Photo from Walt Disney Animation Co’s TANGLEDLady and the Tramp Valentine’s Day set.

One of the only Vinylmation series I enjoy is the Park Starz set. They are extremely pricey, but because the artists don’t have to work with the Mickey mold, you get some really cool pieces. I have several Park Starz along with my Uni-Mini collection. For the first time since I’ve been going to the outlets, a Park Starz figure was available. It was the Hitchhiking Ghost variant.

This was just my luck as the ONLY Park Starz series 2 figure I have is the Hitchhiking Ghost.

But then, I closed out my day seeing what I can only describe as a miracle. Rows and Rows of BLANK: A Vinylamtion Love Story Vinylmations.

If you haven’t seen BLANK: A Vinylamation Love Story, it is a 40 minute “short” film told in stop animation and without any dialogue. No offense intended to anyone involved with the film, but it is literally one of the worst movies I have ever watched, and keep in mind I have watched every single movie Hulk Hogan has ever been in. So seeing these show up at the outlet made my heart grown three sizes that day, just like The Grinch.

I skipped out of the outlet like a little school girl. See you next month!

There are actually two Disney outlet stores in Orlando. Both are in Orlando Premium Outlet shopping complexes, and they are called Disney’s Character Warehouse, presumably because The Land Of Misfit Toys was already trademarked. There is one Character Warehouse located on International Drive close to Universal Studios (4951 International Dr, Orlando, FL 32819), and the other is on Vineland Avenue, right across I-4 near the exits to Disney World (8200 Vineland Ave, Orlando, FL 32821). For this edition of MMM, we went to the location near Universal.

28 thoughts on “The Magic, The Memories, and Merch! April 2014 Photo Report of the Disney Outlet Store”

I love Disney. I love this website. And I especially love this column! If we can’t poke fun at the excess…even as we kinda sorta wanna buy some of this What were they thinking? junk…
Thank you for another hilarious column with excellent photos and commentary!

I agree! When I went to the Hoop Dee Doo Revue they had the Chip and Dale shirt at the general store nearby and I considered getting it at the time. The Tiki Room coasters (and there was an AWESOME Polynesian themed postcard set) are probably being unsold because of cost. Quality is through the roof but $30 retail for some coasters may be the tipping point for guests who are already shelling out of a lot of money for their vacation.

They actually can have wildly different merchandise although there is still a good amount of crossover. Take this for what it’s worth, but a Cast Member at the location closer to Downtown Disney told me they get more merchandise from Downtown Disney stores (like say World of Disney and the former Team Mickey store) and the location closer to Universal gets more merchandise straight from the parks. This could be a Disney Bus Driver-like situation, so take everything with a grain a salt, but I can confirm that the items are quite varied from store to store.

That’s a great idea and I would have purchased this set for exactly that reason if they had been discounted down to the price that all other 3″ Vinylmations are ($4.95, even the sets like the Tangled brothers). However the BLANK Vinylmations are currently at $9.95. If they went down to $4.95 I think I would buy 4-5 sets.

It always makes me a little sad to see Pluto getting short shrift in the merch department. It seems like he’s gotten a demotion, to a rung below Goofy and Donald. Even 5 years ago, it was rare to find a group item with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald that didn’t also feature Pluto, but now it seems basically standard.

For the last year there have been very few Muppets-related items of any sort but believe it or not there is a Muppets toy that will be in May’s Outlet Report, which will be released very early next week.